The present invention relates to colored contact lenses and in particular to such lenses having opaque colored portions that are able to change the apparent color of the wearer""s iris while imparting a very natural appearance.
It was recognized very early that a contact lens with opaque coloring should not have a simple solidly colored iris. Such a lens imparts a very unnatural appearance. Wichterle in U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,504 discloses an opaque lens having an iris of more than a single color that is artistically drawn or photographically reproduced. Such a lens never achieved commercial success. Other attempts to produce an opaque lens with a natural appearance are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,536,386, (Spivak); 3,712,718 (LeGrand), 4,460,523 (Neefe), 4,719,657 (Bawa), 4,744,647 (Meshei et al.), 4,634,449 (Jenkins); European Patent Publication No. 0 309 154 (Allergan) and U.K. Patent Application No. 2 202 540 A (IGEL).
Knapp (in U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,402) discloses a contact lens having, in its preferred embodiment, colored, opaque dots. The Knapp lens has been an enormous commercial success. A natural appearance is achieved, yet the lens is simple and inexpensive to produce, using a simple one-color printed dot pattern. At Column 3, lines 23 to 29, Knapp discloses that xe2x80x9cFor a more natural effect, the printing step may be repeated one or more times using different patterns in different colors, since upon close examination the iris""s of many person are found to contain more than one color. The printed pattern need not be absolutely uniform, allowing for enhancement of the fine structure of the iris.xe2x80x9d The one-color Knapp lenses currently achieving commercial success have their dots arranged in an irregular pattern to enhance the structure of the iris. However, neither the Knapp commercial lenses, nor the Knapp patent disclose or suggest how one would arrange a pattern of dots having more than one color to achieve a more natural appearance.
The present invention is predicted on the surprising discovery that very simple multiple-color opaque patterns (some of them in accordance with the Knapp disclosure) achieve an amazingly naturally appearing iris. The improvement in appearance over the one-color Knapp lenses, currently achieving enormous commercial success, is startling. Like the one color lenses, the lenses of this invention are able to cause a fundamental change in the apparent color of the wearer""s iris, e.g., from dark brown to light blue or green. Although the preferred embodiments of the invention are two-color lenses, use of more than two colors is contemplated.
One aspect of the invention comprises a colored contact lens comprising a non-opaque pupil section, an iris section surrounding said pupil section, and a colored, opaque intermittent pattern over said entire iris section, that leaves a substantial portion within the interstices of the pattern non-opaque, said pattern covering at least about 25 percent of the area of said iris section, the elements of said pattern being undiscernible to the ordinary viewer, wherein a first portion of the elements of said pattern are of a first shade and a second portion of the elements of said pattern are of a second shade different from said first shade, wherein said first portion is located generally on the outside of said iris section and said second portion is located generally on the inside of said iris section, and a jagged border separates said first and second portions, wherein the minimum distance of said jagged border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 5% to about 45% of the radial width of said iris section, and the maximum distance of said border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 45% to about 95% of the radial width of said iris section, thereby providing a lens capable of changing the apparent color of the iris a person wearing the lens and imparting a very natural appearance.
A second appearance of the invention comprises a colored contact lens comprising a non-opaque pupil section, an opaque iris section surrounding said pupil section except for non-opaque elements in said iris section undiscernible to the ordinary viewer, wherein a first portion of said opaque iris section is of a first shade, and a second portion of said opaque iris section is of a second shade different from said first shade, said first portion is located generally on the outside of said iris section and said second portion is located generally on the inside of said iris section, and a jagged border separates said first and second portions, wherein the minimum distance of said jagged border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 5% to about 45% of the radial width of said iris section, and the maximum distance of said border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 45% to about 95% of the radial width of said iris section, thereby providing a lens capable of changing the apparent color of the iris of a person wearing the lens and imparting a natural appearance.
A third aspect of the invention comprises a colored contact lens comprising a non-opaque pupil section and an opaque iris section surrounding said pupil section, wherein a first portion of said iris section is of a first shade, and a second portion of said iris section is of a second shade different from said first shade, said first portion is located generally on the outside of said iris section and said second portion is located generally on the inside of said iris section and a jagged border separates said first and second portions, wherein the minimum distance of said jagged border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 5% to about 45% of the radial width of said iris section, and the maximum distance of said border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 45% to about 95% of the radial width of said iris section, thereby providing a lens capable of changing the apparent color of the iris of a person wearing the lens and imparting a natural appearance.
A fourth aspect of the invention comprises a colored contact lens comprising a non-opaque pupil section and an iris section surrounding said pupil section, said iris section comprising a first outer portion and a second inner portion separated by a jagged border wherein the minimum distance of said jagged border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 5% to about 45% of the radial width of said iris section and the maximum distance of said border from the outer perimeter of said iris section is from about 45% to about 95% of the radial width of said iris section, wherein one of said sections is non-opaque and the other section has opaque coloring.
A fifth aspect of the invention comprises a colored contact lens comprising a non-opaque pupil section and an iris section surrounding said pupil section, said iris section comprising a first outer portion surrounding a second intermediate portion and a third portion surrounded by said intermediate portion, said first and second portions separated by a first jagged border sand said second and third portions separated by a second jagged border, wherein each said first and third portions have opaque coloring and said second portion is non-opaque, or said second portion has opaque coloring and said first and third portions are non-opaque, or said first, second and third portions have opaque coloring and said second portion has a different shade then said first and second portions.
Preferably, in the first aspect of this invention, the elements of the pattern are opaque dots, and the following color combinations are used:
The most preferable dot patterns are as shown in FIGS. 1 to 6.
The term xe2x80x9cnon-opaquexe2x80x9d as used herein is intended to describe a part of the lens that is uncolored or colored with translucent coloring.
The term xe2x80x9csecond shade different from said first shadexe2x80x9d as used herein is intended to mean that both shades are of totally different colors, such as blue and hazel; or that both shades are the same basic color, but having different intensities such as light blue and dark blue.
The term xe2x80x9cordinary viewerxe2x80x9d is intended to mean a person having normal 20xe2x80x9420 vision standing about 5 feet from a person wearing the lenses of this invention.